Age Related Cognitive Impairments and Diffusion of Assistive Web-Base Technologies

The brain is the most energy-consuming organ of the body and impairments in brain energy metabolism will affect neuronal functionality and viability. Brain aging is marked by defects in energetic metabolism. Abnormal tau protein is a hallmark of tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Pathological tau was shown to induce bioenergetic impairments by affecting mitochondrial function. Although it is now clear that mutations in the tau-coding gene lead to tau pathology, the causes of abnormal tau phosphorylation and aggregation in non-familial tauopathies, such as sporadic AD, remain elusive. Strikingly, both tau pathology and brain hypometabolism correlate with cognitive impairments in AD. The aim of this review is to discuss the link between age-related decrease in brain metabolism and tau pathology. In particular, the following points will be discussed: (i) the common bioenergetic features observed during brain aging and tauopathies; (ii) how age-related bioenergetic defects affect tau pathology; (iii) the influence of lifestyle factors known to modulate brain bioenergetics on tau pathology. The findings compiled here suggest that age-related bioenergetic defects may trigger abnormal tau phosphorylation/aggregation and cognitive impairments after passing a pathological threshold. Understanding the effects of aging on brain metabolism may therefore help to identify disease-modifying strategies against tau-induced neurodegeneration.

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Reversal of age-related cognitive impairments in mice by an extremely low dose of tetrahydrocannabinol

Neurobiology of Aging ◽

10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.09.025 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 61 ◽

pp. 177-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Yosef Sarne ◽

Roni Toledano ◽

Lital Rachmany ◽

Effrat Sasson ◽

Ravid Doron

Keyword(s):

Low Dose ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

Age Related

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Age-related Reductions of Cerebral Blood Flow and White Matter Integrity by High-Field Perfusion and Diffusion MRI

World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering 2006 - IFMBE Proceedings ◽

10.1007/978-3-540-36841-0_338 ◽

2007 ◽

pp. 1380-1383

Author(s):

G H Jahng ◽

Norbert Schuff ◽

A T. Du ◽

Y. Zhang ◽

S. Mueller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Blood Flow ◽

Cerebral Blood Flow ◽

White Matter ◽

Diffusion Mri ◽

High Field ◽

White Matter Integrity ◽

Age Related ◽

And Diffusion

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Preventing Alzheimer's Wandering

Chronic Illness and Long-Term Care ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7122-3.ch005 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 77-89

Author(s):

Sara Paiva ◽

Rui Peleja ◽

Jorge Cunha ◽

Carlos Abreu

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Quality Of Care ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

The Elderly ◽

Strong Impact ◽

Brain Disorder ◽

Age Related

With increased life expectancy, the incidence of age-related cognitive impairments, faced by the elderly and older generations, is growing. Among the population with cognitive impairments, those that suffer from Alzheimer's disease are the most common. The Alzheimer's disease is a chronic degenerative brain disorder that is characterised by a failure of memory and, in some instances, by disorders in language, perception and planning. As a consequence of the progressive damages imposed by the illness, patients will increasingly seek and need assistance. This paper presents a tool to aid the development and managing of caregiving communities, comprising immediate family members, relatives, neighbours and healthcare professionals, to assist patients with Alzheimer's disease. Such communities could have a strong impact on the quality of care provided to the patients. At the same time, it is hoped that involving communities will significantly improve the quality of life of Alzheimer's patients and their families while reducing the costs related to the care provided.

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Does consciousness matter?

Human and Animal Minds ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198843702.003.0008 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 165-188

Author(s):

Peter Carruthers

Keyword(s):

Moral Status ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

Phenomenal Consciousness ◽

Human Infants ◽

Age Related ◽

Moral Status Of Animals

Chapter 7 concluded that there is no fact of the matter concerning phenomenal consciousness in animals, while also arguing that this conclusion is of no importance for science. The present chapter inquires whether it is nevertheless important in other ways, specifically for our ethical treatment of animals, arguing that it is not. But a challenge remains for those who theorize about the moral status of animals: they need to prize the foundations of their theories apart from assumptions about consciousness. The chapter also considers what should be said about the phenomenally conscious status of humans who, like animals, only partially share a full global-broadcasting architecture, such as human infants and people suffering from age-related cognitive impairments.

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Brain Substrates of Time-Based Prospective Memory Decline in Aging: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa232 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 396-409

Author(s):

Alexandrine Morand ◽

Shailendra Segobin ◽

Grégory Lecouvey ◽

Julie Gonneaud ◽

Francis Eustache ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diffusion Tensor Imaging ◽

White Matter ◽

Prospective Memory ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Diffusion Tensor ◽

Imaging Study ◽

Age Related ◽

Young Subjects ◽

Anterior Prefrontal Cortex ◽

And Diffusion

Abstract Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) allows us to remember to perform intended actions at a specific time in the future. TBPM is sensitive to the effects of age, but the neural substrates of this decline are still poorly understood. The aim of the present study was thus to better characterize the brain substrates of the age-related decline in TBPM, focusing on macrostructural gray matter and microstructural white matter integrity. We administered a TBPM task to 22 healthy young (26 ± 5.2 years) and 23 older (63 ± 5.9 years) participants, who also underwent volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging scans. Neuroimaging analyses revealed lower gray matter volumes in several brain areas in older participants, but these did not correlate with TBPM performance. By contrast, an age-related decline in fractional anisotropy in several white-matter tracts connecting frontal and occipital regions did correlate with TBPM performance, whereas there was no significant correlation in healthy young subjects. According to the literature, these tracts are connected to the anterior prefrontal cortex and the thalamus, 2 structures involved in TBPM. These results confirm the view that a disconnection process occurs in aging and contributes to cognitive decline.

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